Nintendo has confirmed that the new DSi will have a region lock on it. But only for software built specifically for the DSi. This does include games. Nintendo's reasoning behind the lock is because of net communication functionality and some parental controls.

This, of course, means you won't be able to play a Japanese (or European) title on a DSi you buy in the states. The original DS (and DS Lite) along with the different GameBoy iterations were all region free.

I still kind of want one. I've been looking to get a different color DS Lite for awhile, but it makes more sense to just stay happy with the white one for awhile and pick up one of these. I wonder how long it will be before it's released in colors other than black or white.

I went from not interested to mo way in hell. What is happening to Nintendo?

They're letting their success go to their heads, just like the did after the SNES. They're more focused on milking as much money out of existing products than they are on creating interesting products down the line.

The sad part after all the feature stripping, is that they'll probably continue to sell like hotcakes.

What feature stripping? I'll give you the gameboy slot, which I am sure a large percentage of DS owners have never used, but that is about it. Battery life, until I see a proper source, is speculation, and region locking is only for software that can only be used on this system, probably just downloadable stuff.